[antiwar-van] G-8 EPILOGUE: Movement at the Crossroads

[Garth Mullins]

G-8 EPILOGUE: Movement at the Crossroads
Garth Mullins
 
VANCOUVER: Given the blanket prohibition on public assembly, and the largest 
peacetime deployment of the repressive apparatus of the Canadian state, it is 
a victory that our movement defied authorities and held a series of anti-G8 
events in Calgary and Kananaskis. However, this is a qualified victory – we 
cannot paint a sunny face on a movement that is at a crucial moment in its 
development. We face some serious political questions and are at a strategic 
crossroads. The limited numbers and support we were able to mobilize against 
the G8 reflects our slow recovery from the conservative backlash and 
political disorientation of 9/11, as well as internal contradictions and 
weaknesses that were only exacerbated by the September attacks.
  
G8 summit deliberations were eclipsed not by insurrections like those of 
Quebec or Seattle, but rather by a growing crisis of corporate corruption at 
World Com and Xerox. Plummeting investor confidence sent global markets into 
a tailspin, losing almost 10% by the close of the summit. George W. Bush felt 
compelled to speak out against the state of business ethics from the 
foothills of Alberta.

Official discussions on terrorism were likewise overshadowed. Instead, Bush 
unilaterally called for a market-driven, democratic Palestinian state, where 
he chooses the non-Arafat-leadership. Chretien, after agreeing with Bush, 
then not knowing, finally decided he might leave the choice of a leader up to 
the Palestinians themselves. 

In terms of reforms, the presence of an African delegation at the G8 table 
and of NEPAD on the agenda (with its many well-documented shortcomings) 
reflects the growing influence of civil society and of the anti-corporate 
globalization movement. Critics at the “Peoples Summit – G6B” were right to 
point out that the New Partnership for African Development is largely an 
attempt to give the G8 a kinder, gentler face.

The Movement

The ruling class is on the offensive, retaking legitimacy and political 
ground lost to us over the last several years. Last week’s G8 resistance 
represents a crisis in the development of our movement and its ability to 
mobilize significant numbers and support. The plateau we have now stalled-out 
at is an expression of a convolution of objective political forces and 
subjective dynamics. Kananaskis was no Genoa - it was not a political victory 
for us. Neither was it a shocking defeat. Rather, it was a concrete indicator 
of the health of the movement.

Our numbers were dramatically fewer, our politics insufficiently 
confrontational, our strategy in a state of retreat, our tactics unclear, and 
our organization mal-functioning and inadequately transparent. The Canadian 
state made its boldest moves in the weeks before the summit; deploying the 
army on citizens with the use of lethal force, denying protesters any 
physical presence at the summit site, etc. Our actions were a defensive 
response to these initial moves. Officials read the public mood and realized 
that they could get away with a much more aggressive orientation towards 
dissent than they were previously able. Organizers were likewise aware. 
Our movement did not rise to the violence mongering of politicians and the 
media. But neither did the army shoot nor police attack. They realized how 
insignificant a treat we represented.

We must arrest the decline of our movement, or face political irrelevance. 
Our immediate task is to come together in our local communities and figure 
out where we are now and what we can do about it. In Vancouver, such a 
meeting will take place on July13. Everybody should be included in a frank 
discussion on the direction of the movement, and how we organize in this 
brave new era of reaction. 

Authorities use the carrot and the stick approach to dispensing with their 
political opposition - repression and co-optation. Radical tactics and 
militant analysis are the best defense against the latter. The radical 
grassroots must not leave national and global networking to the NGOs. While 
maintaining our local roots and organic connections to local struggles, we 
must rid ourselves of our parochial blinders. The radical grassroots must 
play a more active role in the direction of the global movement and its 
national constituency. 

Over the past year or so, a consensus has been building among activists to 
move beyond “summit hopping” While abandoning summit hopping is wise in terms 
of mass strategy, we cannot leave world leaders to meet in peace, and we 
cannot leave the NGO’s to form the infrastructure and leadership of the 
movement. Further, the corresponding links to organic, local and regional 
struggles are still in their beginning stages. In stopping hopping to K-
Country, we fail to recognize everything that made this summit qualitatively 
more fascist other international summits. Kananaskis was the first test sight 
of the government's new approach to civil rights, as seen in recent 
security / anti- terrorist legislation.

The voices of anti-corporate globalization protesters across the country were 
peripheral to G8 discourse. Unlike other summits where we radically 
undermined the leaders’ hegemony, we were unable to significantly call into 
doubt the legitimacy of the G8, its agenda or the system it perpetuates. But 
neither were the issues framed entirely by G8 leaders. 

However, the Chretien government was able to achieve a broader victory – the 
further limiting of the right to protest, and forcing our movement into 
retreat. Kananaskis was the feds’ first highly visible test of its post-9/11 
approach to democracy and civil liberties. At last April’s Summit of the 
Americas, outrage at the fence in Quebec City resonated with folks across the 
Country. There was no similar outrage about the qualitatively larger G8 
security operation echoing off the mountains of K-Country. The lack of mass-
opposition to the massive G8 security operation gives the government carte 
blanche to implement its new package of security legislation (bills C-35, C-
36, C-55, etc.) to designate dissent free zones as it deems politically 
necessary. Chretien has longed for such power since trying to make protest 
invisible at APEC five years ago. 

In the wake of the 9/11 attacks there has been a qualitative re-polarization 
of the political landscape and a reactionary ideological backlash to rival 
that of the ‘80s. Our movement has shifted from a ‘war of position’ to a more 
defensive posture. In the war of ideas, our movement must seek to deconstruct 
hegemonic discourses relating to terrorism and security, and to reframe these 
themes in terms of state terror, state repression, racism and imperialism.

In the days following the 9/11 attacks, dissent became a dirty word, people 
rallied around their leaders and flags and our movement became disoriented. 
Some labour leaders and environmental organization representatives called for 
the cancellation of everything we were doing. Others at the grassroots 
proposed that we continue as if nothing has changed. A third current within 
the movement argued for a shift to anti-war work. Things have changed, and 
our political perspective and strategy must reflect this.

We are still recovering momentum lost during this period of confusion. 
Without a sufficiently developed analysis of how the political landscape had 
moved, the movement engaged the Canadian state from a weakened position - we 
were unaware of how different the world had become. The summit drew closer 
and the government was armed with scary new legislation. Terrorist bogeymen 
were around every corner. We retreated in the face of this state repression, 
before the mayor was placing cowboy hats on delegates’ heads. Before 9/11, 
the government would have found it much more difficult to deploy the army 
against its own citizens, and give soldiers permission to use lethal force.

Our movement arises from diverse political backgrounds, different 
communities, and we are bound to disagree about assessments of conditions and 
appropriate strategies and tactics. However, the phrase “diversity of 
tactics” is now being used to avoid a desperately needed discussion about 
tactics and political perspective. In such a climate, I watched our G8 
Spokescouncils devolve into logistical Q&A sessions rather than the models of 
radical democracy and alternative vision they can be. As much as possible, 
participants in an action must have agency. This cannot be downloaded to the 
affinity groups. Mass actions are not just cattle-drives; they are 
fundamentally acts of self-emancipation.

Some organizations use marches to let their leaders flex their muscle at the 
negotiating table or as they lobby governments or corporations. Participants 
are turned on and off like a tap. This is obvious to those to whom it is 
done, and merely continues their alienation. That is not what our movement is 
about and we cannot afford to let parts of it slip back into that mode of 
operating. We then lose that spark that has grabbed the imagination and 
commitment of so many. This movement is founded on the principle of direct 
confrontation with the enemy – in the streets, at the point of production or 
consumption, or in the ideological arena. As opposed to lobbying elected 
officials to enact incremental change on our behalf. Most of the time we are 
political spectators, on the sidelines, watching as our leaders make a 
history we do not condone. We are encouraged to express ourselves through the 
products we consume. But in resistance, we have the opportunity to defiantly 
step out of our prescribed role of consumer or spectator, and to become an 
active agent in the political process, to step up to history, and play an 
active part. 

Over the past year or so, a consensus has been building among activists to 
move beyond “summit hopping” However, the corresponding links to organic, 
local and regional struggles are still in their beginning stages. Further, 
this strategy fails to recognize everything that makes the Kananaskis summit 
qualitatively different from other summits, as well as the impact of recent 
security / anti- terrorist legislation..

Conclusion 
 
At Calgary and Kananaskis, the movement defied attempts by authorities to 
completely stifle dissenting voices and prevent public assembly. Given our 
disorientation in the wake of the 9/11 backlash, strategic retreats in the 
face of elevated state repression, and the resultant decrease in numbers, we 
posed little threat to the legitimacy of the G8 agenda. Nationally, we were 
unable to mobilize a meaningful challenge to the hegemony of corporate 
globalization as embodied in the G8 summit. This campaign reflects a movement 
still trying to find its feet in a massively repolarized political landscape. 
 
In missives to these lists, some people have described G8 resistance as a 
nail in our movement’s coffin. Others are singing in the rain. The G8 will 
only be a defeat for our movement if we fail to learn from it, grow, deepen 
our analysis, build our links and move forward. There will only be cause for 
pessimism if we do not take this opportunity and learn from these lessons. 

An ideological security perimeter is being erected around a renewed hegemony 
of world leaders and forces of corporate globalization. Where they haul out 
their terrorist bogeymen at the slightest criticism. We must not respond to 
this Brave New 9/11 World Hegemony with accommodation and retreat. Rather, we 
must regroup, debate, deepen our analysis of current political situation and 
decide to answer the gathering forces of reaction with bold ideological 
initiative, and an escalation of tactics.  

Garth Mullins, July 5, 2002


G8 Resistance Columns from the Vancouver Sin

The following are four pieces I wrote from Calgary on G8 resistance. They 
were published in the Vancouver Sun during the summit, on June 25, 26, 27 and 
28, 2002, on the “Commentary” and “Insight – G8 in Kananaskis” pages. I did 
not write the headlines. The Vancouver Sun is a Can West paper, subject to 
the decrees and censorship of the Aspers. Incredibly, there was no political 
editing on my pieces. The paper is not the tabloid / page three girl rag that 
is found elsewhere in Canada. It is more like the Toronto Star, or Ottawa 
Citizen, but a bourgeois corporate broadsheet none the less.


June 25, 2002 -- The Vancouver Sun, Insight, A11
Why protesters bother to go at all
Garth Mullins  (1087 words)

CALGARY Anti-corporate globalization activists from around the country have 
been converging on Calgary over the last several days. Despite reports of the 
police turning people away at the BC / Alberta boarder, Vancouver activists 
have organized a bus to bring themselves to Calgary. Many of us have come a 
long way, at great expense and inconvenience, and are concerned about the 
huge multi-agency, multi-national security operation that is being deployed. 
Since protesters have been denied the use of any public lands to set up a 
camp, there is a great deal of uncertainty about where to stay. We know that 
Kananaskis itself is sealed off behind a perimeter of police and we may not 
even get within one hundred kilometres of the G8. 

We’ll be risking arrest and injury and everybody remembers last year’s G8 
summit in Genoa, Italy, where a young activist was shot and killed by police. 

Given all this, why go at all?

The most powerful leaders on the planet will meet as far from the critical 
eyes of their electors as Jean Chretien could arrange. For many different 
reasons, and in many different ways, a growing number of people want to 
express their deeply felt concerns about the type of world that organizations 
like the G8 are perpetuating and creating.

The G8 attracts protest for a wide range of reasons. They are the architects 
of corporate globalization and have perpetrated the so-called “War Against 
Terrorism” in Afghanistan. Collectively the G8 owns most of the world’s 
wealth, the majority of ”Third World” debt and creates the most pollution per 
capita. They are home to the Fortune 500 corporations. Individually, member 
countries are criticized for foreign and domestic policy decisions, such as 
the US’s ongoing support of the occupation of Palestine by Israel and 
Canada’s treatment of its indigenous peoples.

Protesters are concerned about what is on the agenda of this G8 summit - 
terrorism, Africa and the global economy, as well as what’s missing - human 
rights, social justice and the environment. Some want to include a broader 
social agenda and more voices at the table. Others reject the system over 
which the G8 presides, and want to scrap the institution. The “nix it or fix 
it” debate rages across the movement.  

But more than the specifics, the G8 is a symbol of a set of values, processes 
and priorities that those converging on Calgary find repugnant. The G8 
envisions an increasingly homogenous world that looks like Disney, smells 
like McDonalds and tastes like Coke. The defining principles are greed and 
profit maximization. Without global governance or democracy, corporate rule 
has triumphed. Transnational corporations and supra-national organizations 
like the G8 and WTO are the dominant institutions of the corporate global 
order. The only laws are drawn up by the institutions themselves in documents 
like NAFTA, the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) or General Agreement 
on Trade in Services (GATS). 

But the people converging on Calgary are not pessimists. We believe that it 
is possible to change the world. Why bother to show up? Because most of the 
time we are political spectators, on the sidelines, watching as leaders and 
celebrities make a history we do not condone. We are encouraged to show our 
creativity and identity through the products we consume. But through social 
activism we have the opportunity to defiantly step out of our prescribed role 
of consumer or spectator, and to become an active agent in the political 
process, to step up to history, and play an active part. 

Over the last five years, a social movement has coalesced across the planet 
that is concerned about the processes of economic globalization. Since 
the “Battle of Seattle” issues of corporate rule, trade, social justice and 
the environment have emerged from the margins to become part of the 
mainstream political discourse. The movement is diverse and messy. It 
contains many ideologies, communities, issues and strategies. There is often 
little agreement.  The road to Kananaskis has seen a great deal of debate and 
discussion, about logistics, tactics, messages, strategies, issues, 
everything. 

This summit’s agenda will also consider Africa, and NEPAD (the New 
Partnership for Africa’s Development.) Critics say that historically, G8 
member states have been responsible for the underdevelopment of Africa. Among 
the industrialized west, Canada has also maintained the highest level of 
tariffs against trade with Africa. African civil society was not consulted in 
the development of NEPAD. 

Most in the movement see the current “War on Terrorism” as the most recent 
chapter in a centuries old story of colonial and imperial military conquest 
to serve the political and economic interests of an elite group of states and 
corporations. Afghanistan is at the top of a long list of countries invaded 
by the US and other western countries.
 
Among G8 countries themselves, anti-terrorist legislation has lead to an 
erosion of civil liberties. Racial profiling, arbitrary arrests, detention 
without charge and the denial of access to legal council have become more 
common. In Canada, preventing terrorism meant Bill C42, which allowed for the 
designation of a “military exclusion area,” where extra security measures 
could be taken and charter rights were optional. This was later amended so 
that such an area could only be declared for the protection of military 
equipment or personnel. 

The choice of such a remote site as Kananaskis is in keeping with the WTO’s 
last meeting in Quitar, a remote Persian Gulf state that was impossible to 
get to and where protest was all but illegal. Except for stage-managed press 
events, these summits are held behind closed doors and largely in secret. 
Members of civil society are not invited.

With 5 000 Canadian forces personnel in Kananaskis (more than in Afghanistan) 
activists have speculated about a “military exclusion zone” being declared 
around the G8. We realize that since the law has never been enacted, we don’t 
know what (if any) rights we will have. Along with the army being granted 
permission to use “lethal force,” activists face the next few days with a 
great deal of uncertainty and trepidation.

Tonight, the city of Calgary is hosting a “western themed” party to showcase 
the City to the G8 delegates and the international media. The corporate 
backed “Hoedown” has been targeted by the grassroots activist groups, who are 
holding a “Showdown at the Hoedown;” anti-G8 march and street party. The 
police have denied activists permission for the event, but organizers plan to 
go ahead anyway. How police respond to tonight’s protest activities will set 
the tone for the next few days. Stay tuned….

- 30 -

Garth Mullins is a Vancouver based anti-globalization activist. He will be 
filing daily on the G8 summit.


June 26, 2002 – The Vancouver Sun Insight: G8 in Kananaskis, A21
Protesters lack base, feel hemmed in, face phone jamming
Garth Mullins  (1090 words)

CALGARY It has become clear to activists that there is no room for critical 
voices at the G8 summit - both politically and physically. Kananaskis and the 
summit are now sealed up behind a tight security perimeter. Protest 
organizers have been forced to move most all activities to Calgary. Activists 
are frustrated, and trying to creatively make the best of a bad situation. We 
are loath to let Chretien keep G8 delegates out of sight and earshot of 
dissent. The Prime Minister has been trying to create a “protest-free zone” 
since APEC in 1997. Chretien barked to the media that nobody will upstage him 
and his party.

The intense and often violence-prone security measures that keep the public 
away are endemic to the anti-democratic principles that are part of the 
agendas of corporate globalization.
 
 G8 delegates are protected by a security perimeter that extends in a 6.5-
kilometre radius around Kananaskis Village. To enter, the media, workers and 
500 residents must be accredited – protesters need not apply. Security 
personnel from G8 countries, the army, RCMP, CSIS and over 20 other law 
enforcement agencies are part of the security operation. Overhead, a “no fly 
zone” is patrolled by jet fighters. Highway 40, the only road in, has many 
police patrols and checkpoints. Brigadier-General Ivan Fenton told the 
Calgary Herald on May 31 that Canadian soldiers have been granted permission 
to use “lethal force.” And there’s nowhere to sleep.

 Originally, plans were made for “Solidarity Village,” a protest camp close 
to Kananaskis. Alberta unions and the Council of Canadians negotiated with 
the Stony First Nation to rent part of their reserve land. At the last 
minute, the deal fell through, and the camp was called off. It has since been 
revealed that the federal government are paying the First Nation $300 000 
for “security costs.” Those at the negotiations find this highly suspect. 
David Robbins, trade campaigner for the Council of Canadians said "We 
suspected there was interference when our discussions about a venue for 
Solidarity Village broke down for no apparent reason. Now we know that the 
federal government paid to prevent G8 dissenters from being able to organize 
a peaceful response to the Summit."

 With our protest camp gone, and other Kananaskis based actions looking 
unlikely, discussions began several days ago among local Calgary activists, 
and across the country by internet, about expanding the role and significance 
of regional protests, including events in Calgary.  As the summit itself 
arrives, people are worried, and nobody knows what to expect. Having to 
reconsider all our plans has caused disagreements, tension and splits among 
activist ranks. 

On the 23rd a 2500 strong, union organized march against the G8 raised 
everybody’s spirits for a time. The march was loud and energetic, without 
police violence or arrests.

Late Sunday, after a trip across Rogers Pass in my late grandmother’s land 
yacht Oldsmobile, I arrived in Calgary. Although others were stopped and 
searched by the RCMP, our ride must have been good camouflage. We went to 
the “Convergence Space,” where meetings are held, events planned and housing, 
medics and legal assistance organized. Spokescouncils, caucuses and affinity 
groups had been meeting in the crowded space for several days, analysing 
conditions and revisiting strategy. Organizers worry that in the confusion of 
shifting the focus to Calgary at the last minute, we may lose people. On the 
various anti-G8 websites calls to action have been posted, changed and 
withdrawn. Our movement’s ability to spontaneously organize itself will be 
crucial.

About 300 other activists and concerned citizens are meeting at the Peoples 
Summit: G6B (Group of Six Billion) at the University of Calgary. Speakers, 
academics and activists from all over the world are proposing reforms or 
alternative models to corporate globalization and other policies of the G8. 

A sub-committee of the main activist council is revisiting the idea of making 
a small caravan of cars out to Kananaskis, or as close as the police will let 
us get. The idea is to peacefully illustrate that the summit has been 
sanitized of critical ideas, and removed from the sight of those who elect 
the leaders who meet within.

Even with most activities limited to Calgary, authorities are dead set 
against us. Police have been reticent to grant permission to anti-G8 public 
events. The City of Calgary and mayor Dave Bronconnier have opposed our use 
of city parks and municipal property because ‘public spaces are not 
appropriate venues for "political" events.’ Mayor Bronco said that activists 
hold marches “at they’re own risk” and that he had plenty of cells for us. 
Bronco used a city park to launch his election campaign with an 800-person 
barbeque- certainly not a political event. The Civil Liberties Association 
and the Alberta Federation of Labour are now in court to challenge the 
city’s “blanket prohibition against assembly in public” and denial of any 
protest permits. 

Activists are getting around the permit issue by calling for a picnic in the 
park. There will be veggie burgers and soda, but also speakers, music and 
much criticism of the G8 agenda.

 Police have also announced that they intend to make use of cell phone and 
radio jamming equipment. We need cell phones and walkie-talkies to 
communicate among ourselves, to let our volunteer medics know if anybody is 
hurt or needs help, steer marches through city streets, communicate with 
activists in other cities, talk to the media and even the police. When police 
reduce our ability or organize ourselves, it makes it much more difficult to 
get our message out, and to have a coherent and safe event.

As I file this column, meetings and discussions in living rooms and pubs 
continue as to the character of actions for the first day of G8 meetings. 
With all these obstacles and concerns, activists will surely talk late into 
the night, and most will have little or no sleep.
 
As the sun rises tomorrow, protesters will roll out of their tents, get up 
off the floors of church basements, and raise themselves from the couches of 
friends, determined that regardless of the location, we will make the June 26 
anti-G8 actions loud, effective, militant and safe. At 6am, people will began 
to converge at Fort Calgary for the “J26 Global Day of Action.”

The main goal of the Calgary march is to cause “economic disruption” 
throughout the downtown core, and to call attention to the transnational 
corporations that are the main beneficiaries of the G8 agenda.

As I write, nobody knows if the police will even let us out of our 6 a.m. 
rallying place. 

- 30 -

Garth Mullins is a Vancouver based anti-globalization activist. He will be 
filing daily on the G8 summit.


June 27, 2002 – The Vancouver Sun, Insight: G8 in Kananaskis, A10
‘People’s Summit’ sticks up for Africa
Garth Mullins  (1374 words)
 
CALGARY On the night before the summit begins, as the last of the leaders 
arrive in town, the city of Calgary hosted a “Hoedown” to showcase “western 
culture” to G8 delegates and the international media.

Anti-G8 protesters organized a “Showdown at the Hoedown,” with a street 
party, complete with music, dancing and a trampoline. Three thousand people 
took the streets for this un-permitted rally, chanting “this is what 
democracy looks like,” and “They are the G8 we are the G6B” (Group of Six 
Billion) According to email from the organizers, Calgary Anti-Capitalist 
Collective and Anti-Capitalist Edmonton, the idea is to “disrupt the facade 
of the ‘Alberta advantage’ [a promotional business slogan] and the racist 
imagery of cavalier/cowboy capitalism.”

We had trained medics and legal observers on hand, but they had nothing to 
do, as there were no injuries or arrests. For activists, the event was a 
massive success. We were able to defy the police and gather peacefully, but 
without a permit. The street party got bery close to the Round Up Centre, 
where the “Hoedown” took place. There were some tense moments as protesters 
faced off with police at the security fence, but conflict never erupted. For 
activists, the event represented an end to strategic retreating - from police 
intimidation, from Kananaskis, and from media stereotypes.

Protesters have been feeling under fire from an often hostile and sensational 
press. In the wake of the 9/11 the media have taken a decidedly more negative 
approach to dissent. A national editorial last week on the op/ed page of Can 
West papers described protesters as “unable to win political or public 
support, a furtive cabal of self-appointed world savers, out to lead the 
masses in breaking glass, spray-painting buildings, throwing bricks at police 
and often, creative uses of urine and faeces.” We may be pissed off, but 
that’s as close as anybody comes to the creative use of urine.

Earlier in the day, about 200 gathered to draw attention the poor labour 
practices of Gap sweat shops. Protesters marched down city streets, through 
Calgary’s shopping district to its flagship Gap shop, where some got naked, 
pronouncing that they’d “rather wear nothing than wear Gap.” Again, there 
were no arrests and no police violence.

Across town, in the crowded Convergence Space, spokescouncil meetings 
continued right up until the Hoedown action began. The space is where all the 
organizing and logistical planning takes place. It is like an old school 
gymnasium, sweltering and overflowing with 200 plus activists, chairs, tables 
full of literature and the smell of burnt Fair Trade coffee. The walls alre 
plastered with various announcements and information. There are a few slow 
Internet access computers. 

Final discussions were had about the early morning J26 march for the first 
day of the summit. The group, which is a delegated structure and runs on a 
consensus process, debated the various contingencies and responses to 
possible police repression, violence or mass arrests. Activists argued on the 
need for total democracy and disclosure of strategy on the one hand, versus 
the need for security to outfox police informants on the other. People are 
clearly tired, tense and feeling the effects of the heavy police presence. 
The Space is constantly observed by a variety of bicycle, cruiser and patty 
wagon driving police, who drive around and around the block.

The meeting erupted into applause when a member of the Alberta Federation of 
Labour announced their success this morning in court, where along with the 
Civil Liberties Association, challenging the city on its blanket refusal to 
allow any type of public gathering in opposition to the G8. We (and the 
Charter of Rights and Freedoms) won and a permitted “picnic” will take place 
in the afternoon. 

One of the points of major interest to protesters is Africa. This summit’s 
agenda includes Africa, and NEPAD (the New Partnership for Africa’s 
Development.) It is arguable that Africa is even being considered by the G8 
as a result of pressure from civil society and the changes in the political 
landscape caused by the anti-globalisation movement. .

Critics say that historically, G8 member states have been responsible for the 
underdevelopment of Africa. Among the industrialized west, Canada has also 
maintained one of the highest level of tariffs against trade with Africa. The 
west is happy to strip Africa of its raw resources, but erects large barriers 
to the import of any value added products. The G8 approach will demand of 
African nations that they make massive cuts into their social programs and 
health care and privatize public resources, further hurting those already at 
the bottom of the world’s economic ladder.

The People’s Summit – G6B is a G8 counter conference that runs in Calgary 
during this week is in full swing. Many sessions and speakers will focus on 
Africa, and the negative role that Canada and the G8 have played (and 
continue to play) on the continent. Discussions and statements made so far 
indicate that members of African labour movement, farmers’ groups, women’s 
organizations and other community organizations participating in the People’s 
Summit see the approach of the G8 largely as a continuation of the policies 
that have ravaged the continent, rather than a departure from them. Moreover, 
African unions and civil society were not consulted in the negotiation of 
NEPAD.

At six in the morning of June 26, the J26 march began at Fort Calgary. 
Thousands gathered, ready to defy the city and police’s ban on public 
assembly with a peaceful march through Calgary. In my capacity as one of the 
communications people, I helped to facilitate the movement of the “Snake 
March” through the mystifying grid of Calgary’s downtown core. We kept track 
of any medical issues, the location and attitude of police and our own ranks 
over walkie –talkie. The event was entirely peaceful, and without police 
violence. There was even a spontaneous game of anti-capitalist street soccer. 
The police were invited to play the anarchists, but declined, and thus 
forfeited. Protesters 1: Police 0.

Calgary is home to the corporate headquarters to many transnational 
corporations that have played a role in the exploitation of Africa, the 
global south, the planet’s environment and the systematic prioritization of 
profit over people. They are also beneficiaries of the global economic order 
that the G8 maintains and expands. The early morning march disrupted traffic 
and drew attention to the role of these organizations by stopping at their 
headquarters or local buildings: Sun Life Financial, Shell, McDonalds, the 
Gap, Ralph Klein’s conservative government, the federal government and the 
posh hotels where G8 delegates are staying were all political targets on the 
march route. 

Helicopters buzzed overhead as about 2500 marched through downtown. The 
police presence was heavy, with riot troops waiting in the wings, and 
cruisers, vans and bike cops dogging us all the way. Two activists were 
arrested as they tried to occupy a McDonalds restaurant on Stephan Avenue 
Mall. The legal team was quickly put in touch with police. One person was 
treated for dehydration by our volunteer medics. The march ended with a “die-
in” where activists played dead to represent the 8000 people that die each 
day of HIV/AIDS in Africa.

The morning’s events were followed by an anti-G8 picnic in Riley Park. Under 
a scorching sun, activists enjoyed veggie burgers and other free food and 
drink, listened to speakers talk on various aspects of G8 policy, and danced 
to live music. The permission for this event was won in court only yesterday, 
but still over 1000 people attended. People are feeling very positive about 
events so far.

After the picnic, a caravan of about 100 activists will get as close to the 
G8 summit and delegates in Kananaskis as police will let us. About 20 cars 
will leave together from Riley Park, Calgary and drive out to Kananaskis, and 
make our presence known in a peaceful fashion.  The government and police 
have taken extreme measures to sanitize the summit sight of any dissenting 
viewpoints. These ideas are being kept out with a massive security operation 
and the threat of lethal force. Later today we will challenge the legitimacy 
of this body to meet in secret, behind so much firepower and out of the sight 
of the people to whom the politicians owe their livings.

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Garth Mullins is a Vancouver based anti-globalization activist. He will be 
filing daily on the G8 summit.


June 28, 2002 – The Vancouver Sun, Insight: G8 in Kananaskis, A6
Draconian policy marks a declining state of democracy
Garth Mullins  (1443 words)
 
CALGARY As the G8 Summit concludes, protesters and activists, sleep-deprived 
and sun-stroked, assess what has been accomplished, what has been learned, 
and what should be forgotten. Meanwhile the police, media and authorities 
scratch their heads, wondering why the violence they promised the rest of 
Canada didn’t materialize.

Jean Chretien and the federal government, citing bill C36 re the protection 
of international dignitaries, made Kananaskis and the G8 a dissent-free zone. 
Meetings took place beyond the sight of media, taxpayers, electors and 
protesters. What you know of summit deliberations is only what the G8 leaders 
want you to know. This week, Canadian “democracy” has seen a radical erosion 
of the right to protest and expression – the right to be seen and heard by 
leaders, as determined in the APEC inquiry and by other legal opinion. 
Kananaskis was a Charter-free zone.

In the protest camp, we learned that to retreat and not defy such draconian 
policy is to essentially forfeit our rights. And on June 26 we did stand up. 
About 102 cars full of five hundred activists (five times what organizers had 
anticipated) drove out to where highway 40 turns off to Kananaskis from the 
Trans-Canada. We were well aware of the comments of a commanding officer, who 
a member of the media overheard say that if anybody without security 
accreditation tries to go to Kananaskis, “we’ll take ‘em out.” We were met by 
hordes of RCMP and fatigue wearing soldiers. Our convoy went as far as the 
second security checkpoint, of which there are over a dozen between the Trans 
Canada and Kananaskis Village. Apparently, once you get closer to the site, 
tanks, rocket launchers, radar dishes and command posts become visible.

These checkpoints are huge steel fences that bridge the road, guarded by rows 
of bicycle cops, riot troops waiting in the wings, and a team of RCMP 
videographers filming our every move from atop a police van.

We stood face to face with police at the G8 security checkpoint and drew the 
attention of the world to the declining state of Canadian democracy. This 
extreme security operation made it impossible for protesters and activists to 
set up a peaceful presence at the G8. In making this statement, there were 
many sun burns, but no violence and no arrests. A delegation from Japan was 
delayed for 20 minutes because of our presence. We were still 25km from the 
G8 leaders.

Meanwhile across the country, anti-G8 activities drew thousands.  This is an 
intentional strategy of the movement to broaden out its ranks and audience. 
There is an emerging consensus that “summit hopping” is not the most 
effective way to get messages out or build our movement.  

Given the obligations of family, work and school, along with the expense of 
travel, most people cannot pick up and spend a week in another city attending 
a counter-conference or protesting a summit. On June 26, the movement held 
regional events in Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa 
and Halifax to demonstrate concerns about the G8, and to connect the 
sometimes-abstract processes of economic globalization with local struggles 
at home.

The media and Calgary Mayor Dave Bronconnier have learned that no protester 
would rise to their violence mongering. But after the first day of the 
summit, disappointed at the lack of spectacle on hand, media asserted that 
activist numbers are shrinking. Certainly across the country about 10,000 
took part, and this is a smaller number than other events like it. The 
explanation is in our leaders and the media’s hostility towards dissent in 
the wake of 911, and the qualitative step up in security restrictions on 
protesters. Through the weeks leading up to the G8, activists had to redraft 
our plans several times, leading to confusion and smaller numbers. “If anyone 
is to blame for the fewer that felt they could raise their voices,” commented 
Sharmeen Khan, a Victoria based activist who made the trek out “it is the 
scare tactics of the Prime Minister and police authorities.” But numbers 
don’t tell the whole story.

Myself and a dozen friends and activists occupied the Calgary small house of 
an old acquaintance from back in the day when we both played in little punk 
bands. Colin put up with a near home invasion as gracefully as Martha Stewart 
with a gas mask. The floor was wall-to-wall-protesters, trying to fit in 
three of four hours sleep. Julia got up early with me and drove me to my 
various engagements, and to our never-ending meetings. I am fortunate to have 
a thoughtful group to consider strategy and tactics with over six am coffees. 
Many of the ideas advanced in these essays have been developed through 
discussions among my posse. Certainly, along with frayed nerves and tactical 
disagreements, a feeling of sharing and community was firmly entrenched by 
the time the leaders were packing their cowboy hats and assorted Canadianna 
souvenirs.

Early on the morning of the second day of the summit, I did an interview with 
CTV’s “Canada AM.” However, CTV was broadcasting from the Mariott, where G8 
delegates stay, inside the secure zone in downtown Calgary. My cab pulled up 
front about 4:30am and a gaggle of police immediately confronted me. I told 
them I was on the security list, that the producer had done this days ago. 
One of the cops said “Mullins, I don’t care what your story is, you ain’t 
coming in here.” After much argument, the producer escorted me through three 
checkpoints, a search and metal detector. A little crew of six stood frowning 
at me, just out of camera frame. Heather, an intern at CTV told me that she 
overheard journalists pitching their stories yesterday, and 
paraphrased “since there was no violence what will we write about? We may 
have to cover their issues!”

A central issue now facing activists and organizers in the wake of the G8 is 
how our movement responds to the repressive apparatus of the state when it is 
unleashed upon us in protection of a fundamentally undemocratic agenda. One 
of the major strengths of the anti-globalization movement in its first few 
years was its use of civil disobedience and direct action to challenge the 
processes and mechanisms of corporate globalization. This does not mean just 
lobbying political leaders and waiting for them to enact incremental change 
on our behalf. Rather, it is to directly confront supra-national 
organizations and transnational corporations with thousands and thousands of 
activist bodies. It is to put ourselves in the way. It does not mean random 
acts of violence and property damage by frustrated individuals – that is not 
a tactic but an emotional outburst.

Civil disobedience and direct action captured the imagination of a populace 
that had grown cynical with parliamentary machinations and suspicious of 
professional politicians. It is a direct confrontation between the engines of 
capitalism and the people who oppose and are victimized by them – 
fundamentally an act of self-liberation, where everyone has agency.

With the level of security so cracked up, and the city of Calgary and its 
mayor making a total ban on any public gathering during the G8, the mere act 
of public assembly (once described as a right) becomes a radical, law-
breaking act of civil disobedience. This can threaten more conservative 
movement constituents and divide us. Fortunately, at the eleventh hour, 
labour decided to give the G8 actions its full support, and such divisions 
were avoided. 

Another strength of the anti-corporate globalization movement is its radical 
democracy. Decisions are made democratically and by consensus across a wide 
geography and diverse constituency. The “Spokescouncil” model helped to share 
a vision and organize ten thousand to shut down the WTO in Seattle. In 
Calgary it was used to constantly reassess conditions and try to find a 
workable action given tough circumstances. This model allows every 
participant the potential to become an organizer and have a say.

Activists now must determine how to face these elevated levels of repression 
that have come about with the passage of “anti-terrorism” laws and the Public 
Security Act since 911. I hope we have learned that the answer is not to 
retreat, but rather to raise our voices and escalate our tactics. However, 
analysis, debate and discussion will continue among activists long after 
summit delegates have split Cow Town.

As I file this piece, activists are meeting to discuss actions for the last 
half of the second day of the G8 summit. The question of retreat or advance 
seems to have been on many minds, as suggestions for a variety of civil 
disobedience actions are being put forward at a mid-morning Spokescouncil. 
After being pushed and pushed, the movement seems to be regaining its 
confidence and initiative.  
  
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Garth Mullins is a Vancouver based anti-globalization activist.